hollywood fiction – Page 3

September 1940 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

September 1940 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ Cleve Adams, “That Certain Feeling”, ‘Engelhardt & Dewey, Car 97, LA setting’, 2^nd of 6 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Pictures for Murder”, 22nd of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 34th of 43 stories in BM

~ William E. Brandon, “Danny, Once the Rat”, ‘police-stoolie & Nazi spies’, 3^rd of 7 stories in BM

~ Dale Clark, “Killer in the Wind”, 2^nd of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 4^th of 32 stories in BM

~ John Lawrence, “Death in the Pluperfect”, 1^st of 2 stories with ‘Ace McGuire, Broadway squad, 1^st-person narrator’, 7^th of 14 stories in BM

~ Robert Reeves, “Dog Eat Dog”, Cellini Smith and RR’s debut, 1^st of 3 parts that will be published as the novel No Love Lost in 1941, reprinted in Dead and Done For: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Cellini Smith (Steeger, 2020), 1^st of 12 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

January 1948 issue ~ cover art by Paul Stevens

January 1948 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Paul Stevens

~ Curtis Cluff, “Snow at Waikiki”, 1^st of 3 with Honolulu PI Johnny Ford, ‘1^st-person narrator, ‘snow=heroin’, 1^st of 4 stories in BM

~ Merle Constiner, “Bury Me Not”, ‘Luther McGavock, private detective; he works for Atherton Browne who heads a Memphis-based agency, last of 11 of the McG stories; usually rural setting’, reprinted in Let the Dead Alone: The Complete Black Mask Cases of Luther McGavock (Steeger, 2020), last of 12 stories in BM

~ Norman A. Daniels, “Death is No Stranger”, Rick Trent, ex-PI, ex-con, 1^st person narrator, 3rd of 4 stories in BM

~ Robert C. Dennis, “Murder Tops the Cast”, 4th of 6 with ‘William (Willie) Carmody, Confidential Investigations & Margaret O’Leary, writer, Hollywood, WC is first-person narrator’, 4th of 10 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnel, Jr., “Keep the Killing Quiet”, ‘1^st-person narrator’, last of 20 stories in BM

~ George F. Kull, “Red Christmas”, ‘in Reno‘, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

October 1936 issue ~ cover art by Blaine (Norman Saunders)

October 1936

cover art by Blaine (Norman Saunders)

[updated 10/28/25]

September 1930 issue ~ cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

September 1930 issue

cover art by J.W. Schlaikjer

better image than previously posted

~ Guthrie Brown, “Stalemate”, ‘Western lynching’, 1^st of 2 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “Shooting Out of Town”, 37^th of 53 with Race Williams who ‘goes out of town on a gun job’, 49^thof 71 appearances in BM

~ Ramon Decolta (Raoul Whitfield), “Nagasaki Bound”, 1st half of Jo Gar story, 6^th of 24 stories in BM, reprinted in West of Guam: The Complete Cases of Jo Bar (Altus Press, 2013)

~ J. J. Des Ormeaux, “The Dago Trick”, ‘crook tale’, 2^nd of 5 stories in BM (pseudonym of Forrest Rosaire)

~ Joseph Harrington, “Footloose Goes Astray”, ‘Western’, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “Shake-Down”, 12th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.2 (Altus, 2013), 25 of 67 stories in BM

~ Earl and Marion Scott, “Bullets for Murder”, 4th of 6 stories with ‘Phil Craleigh, once brilliant lawyer, now a drunk, given to bouts of reform’, million-dollar robbery, 13th of 17 stories in BM as a couple

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Death in a Bowl”, 1^st of 3 serialized parts, ‘Ben Jardinn, Hollywood eye, & murder in Hollywood Bowl’, ‘(originally titled The Maestro Murder)’, published in hardcover in 1931 by Knopf, 41st of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

1960 Dell reissue

1957 Simon and Schuster hardcover, this the 1960 softcover reprint.

Quentin was the pseudonym Hugh Wheeler

back cover says the cover art is by Robert McGuire but it doesn’t look like his work.

May 1942 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

May 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

~ W.T. Ballard, “Lights, Action – Killer!”, 27^th and last Lennox story in BM, 40^th of 43 stories in BM

~ D.L. Champion, “Blood from a Turnip”, 8^th of 26 with Sackler, reprinted in Murder Costs Money: The Complete Black Mask Stories of Rex Sackler (Steeger, 2020), 9^th of 30 stories in BM.

~ Dale Clark, “Murder is No Joke”, 9th of 28 with house dick Mike O’Hanna story, at San Alpa Resort hotel, 11^th of 32 stories in BM

~ Norbert Davis, “Don’t Cry for Me”, 1^st of 3 with Hollywood piano man John Collins, 10^th of 13 stories in BM

~ C.P. Donnell, Jr., “Death of the Party ”, 9th of 16 with Colonel Walter (Doc) Rennie, USA Medical Corps psychiatrist, 9th of 20 stories in BM

~ Cornell Woolrich, “Dormant Account”, 19th of 24 (22 original) stories to appear in BM

July 1937 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

July 1937

cover art by Norman Saunders

[updated 10/28/25]

August 1945 Canadian issue

August 1945 Canadian issue

October 1934 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

October 1934 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Fred Craft

~ W.T. Ballard, “Snatching Is Dynamite”, ‘Lennox & ‘The Secret Five’ of Hollywood’, 9th of 27 BM stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 9th of 43 stories in BM

~ Raymond Chandler, “Finger Man”, “Finger Man”, unnamed LA PI, first person narrator, first book appearance in the collection The Simple Art of Murder (Houghton Mifflin hardcover, 1950), first paperback, Trouble is My Business (Pocket, 10/51), various paperback editions, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), 3^rd of 11 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Immunity Murders”, 21^th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, with his wife Vivian, 28^th of 39 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Somebody Must Die”, last of 14 Frost stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger, last of 17 appearances in BM

~ Thomas Walsh, “Best Man”, ‘Carver, plain-clothesman, Homicide; reprinted in The Hard-Boiled Omnibus (1946)’, 4th of 6 stories in BM

February 1937 issue ~ cover art by Norman Saunders

February 1937

cover art by Norman Saunders